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from the publisher

The Love IssueHappy New Year and welcome to our Love issue. What’s not to love? From beginning to end, you’re going to find compelling articles. For starters, we think you’ll like my interview with Byron Katie. Nearly 30 years ago she was a suicidal, overweight, agoraphobic woman living in the desert. Suddenly, almost miraculously, she had a transcendent and lasting realization from which The Work emerged. This consists of four simple questions and the turnaround. I’ve long done this inquiry and found it invaluable for distinguishing the chasm between my beliefs and reality. We look forward to seeing Katie at the Wisdom 2.0 conference in SF later this month.

In another feature, we have a pictorial with kids’ quotes about love, kissing, and marriage. Cute and adorable, it goes well with this month’s cover image. In a deeper vein, we also have a terrific compilation of ancient poems on the erotic spirit.

We’re proud to have prompted April Hirschman to write her courageous essay about bisexuality—a subject that receives short shrift on both sides of the sexual aisle. While straights and gays fall into clear categories, bisexuals explore windier—and possibly more fragile—paths. April’s journey to love is not confined to her lovers’ plumbing, so to speak, so we congratulate her for this depth and honesty.

Following up on his provocative article in last month’s issue about spiritual wealth and financial poverty, Zachary Feder strikes again, prompting us to look deeper into the shadows of male masturbation. This is worth reading for men and women. Claudia Six discusses how performance anxiety is not just for men, while Tara Brach shares about the importance of awakening from the trance of unworthiness.

Natalia Schotte writes about the importance of sanctifying your sexuality, while Elizabeth Wolfson examines the dynamic of giving one’s power away in relationship. It turns out we normally don’t realize we’ve given away our power until the problem is far along. Chas August writes about changing our love stories, while Sonika Tinker and Christian Pederson examine some of the ways we keep love at bay. Finally, Robert Masters reminds us of the importance of relationships—especially the difficult parts—for cultivating wisdom.

In the next months, we switch gears into some more politically charged content with our annual Food issue in March and in April, our Green issue. We welcome your ideas and hope that you might consider advertising your business in Common Ground. For over 40 years we’ve been connecting people. As ever, we ask that if you appreciate our magazine that you patronize our advertisers. They’re wonderful, and they keep it going.

As a last word, Jimi Hendrix said it well: “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

Happy Valentine’s Day, and may love set deep, lasting roots in your heart.